This Week in SABR: May 14, 2021

May 14, 2021/in This Week in SABR /by sabr

Welcome to “This Week in SABR!” Click here to view this week’s newsletter on the web. Here’s what we’ve been up to as of May 14, 2021:

SABR 50 at 50: Baseball Trivia

SABR has featured a trivia contest as part of its annual convention since at least 1982. Further considering the hundreds of contests that have taken place at our local chapter events, it is fair to say that SABR and trivia have gone hand in hand throughout our history. We steadfastly maintain that there is nothing trivial about baseball trivia.

As part of the SABR 50 at 50 project to help celebrate our Golden Anniversary, it is appropriate that we present our 50 greatest baseball trivia questions. We asked many of SABR’s best trivia stalwarts to offer questions, and then asked them all to vote on the nominees to narrow it down to 50. Like all great trivia tests, the questions range in difficulty from easy to very hard.

We invite you to test your own mastery of these questions. Once you are finished, you can click the link below and read the answers. We are interested in hearing how you did, but we also would love to hear your own suggestions for great trivia questions we might have missed. Put on your thinking caps and good luck!

Visit SABR.org/50at50/trivia to find the questions and answer key.

— Compiled by D. Bruce Brown

All Future 50 Campaign donations matched, this week only!

Thanks to one generous SABR member, you now have the opportunity to DOUBLE THE IMPACT OF YOUR DONATION to the Future 50 Campaign — this week only! Longtime member Tony Yoseloff, whose foundation also funds scholarships for students to attend SABR’s annual conferences, will match all donations made from now until Sunday, May 16, up to a grand total of $5,000.

As SABR celebrates its 50th Anniversary in 2021, we are excited to both commemorate our history and look forward to our shared vision of the organization’s future. We hope you are able to join us as we continue to come together in thoughtful baseball fellowship, since SABR could not have reached this golden milestone without members like you.

By joining our Future 50 Campaign, you will help ensure SABR’s next 50 years are even brighter than the first 50. You can support SABR’s Future 50 Campaign by making a gift of at least $100 by June 4, 2021.

All donors joining the Future 50 Campaign with a gift of $500 or more will receive:

Customized SABR Dugout Mug featuring 50th Anniversary logo
Paperback edition of The National Pastime: The Future According to Baseball journal
SABR 50th Anniversary lapel pin
Complimentary registration to the Summer of SABR: Golden Celebration Series
Recognition in This Week in SABR and on SABR.org
Recognition during an upcoming Summer of SABR virtual event

Ten randomly selected donors will also win an autographed copy of Eric Nusbaum’s 2021 Seymour Medal-winning book Stealing Home.

Thank you so much for your consideration in joining the Future 50 Campaign. With your support, SABR will continue to be the world’s essential baseball community for the next 50 years and beyond!

Randy Roberts, Johnny Smith’s ‘War Fever’ wins 2021 SABR Larry Ritter Book Award

War Fever: Boston, Baseball, and America in the Shadow of the Great War, written by Randy Roberts and Johnny Smith and published by Basic Books, a timely and provocative study of the transformative impact of World War I on American culture, set against a backdrop of history’s most lethal pandemic, is the winner of the 2021 Larry Ritter Book Award.

The award is granted annually by SABR’s Deadball Era Committee to the author of the best book about baseball between 1901 and 1919 published during the previous calendar year. The winner’s work must demonstrate original research or analysis, a fresh perspective, compelling thesis, impressive insight, accuracy, and clear, graceful prose.

Joe Niese’s Zack Wheat; The Life of the Brooklyn Dodgers Hall of Famer (McFarland & Co.) and Mark Peavy’s A History of Baseball in the Deadball Era: Volume One 1901 to 1905 (independently published) also earned consideration as a finalists. A total of 16 books were nominated for consideration.

Click here to read the full announcement at SABR.org.

SABR Digital Library: Jackie: Perspectives on 42

Add a new baseball book to your collection from the SABR Digital Library:

Jackie: Perspectives on 42
Edited by Bill Nowlin and Glen Sparks
Associate editors: Carl Riechers and Len Levin
ISBN (ebook): 978-1-9701-5950-9, $9.99
ISBN (paperback): 978-1-9701-5951-6, $29.95
8.5″ x 11″, 324 pages

Click here to read the full description at SABR.org.

SABR members, get this e-book for FREE!

E-book: Click here to download the e-book version of Jackie: Perspectives on 42 for FREE from the SABR Store. Available in PDF, Kindle/MOBI and EPUB formats.
Paperback: Get a 50% discount on the Jackie: Perspectives on 42 paperback edition from the SABR Store ($17.95 includes shipping/tax; delivery via Kindle Direct Publishing can take up to 4-6 weeks.)

Having trouble downloading our e-books? To view PDF files on your computer, click here to download the free Adobe Reader software. Having trouble downloading e-books to your Kindle, Nook, Sony Reader or iPad? Click here for additional help.

SABR members can download all Digital Library e-book editions for free and save 50% on purchase of the paperback editions. Visit SABR.org/ebooks to view all past titles.

Join us for more Stay Home With SABR virtual events

SABR chapters and committees are encouraged to set up virtual meetings to stay engaged with our members throughout the world at SABR.org, as part of our Stay Home With SABR initiative to assist in limiting the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

Can’t-Miss Event: On Monday, May 17, at 7:00 p.m. CDT, SABR’s Larry Dierker Chapter in Houston will hold a virtual Zoom meeting with special guest Bill Virdon, who played for 12 years in the major leagues, won NL Rookie of the Year honors and the 1960 World Series, and also managed the Astros, Pirates, Yankees, and Expos. David Jerome, author of an upcoming biography on Virdon’s life and career in baseball, will also join us. Click here to sign up for Larry Dierker Chapter announcements or contact Joseph Thompson to RSVP for this Zoom meeting.
Video Replays: This week, we heard from Christian Trudeau (“Eastern Canada League, 1922-24”); Rochester Red Wings batboys Max Robertson and Dave Parlet; and Bob Bailey (“Jack Chapman: A Nineteenth Century Baseball Life”). Click here to view more video replays of virtual SABR events.

Here are some more upcoming virtual events you can attend online; check the Events Calendar for complete details:

May 15: Hank Gowdy (OH) Chapter book club (9:30 a.m. EDT)
May 15: Pee Wee Reese (KY) Chapter meeting with Dale Tafoya (10:30 a.m. EDT)
May 15: Vanessa Ivy Rose: Angel in the Outfield: The Life and Legacy of Norman “Turkey” Stearnes (12:00 p.m. EDT)
May 15: Carolina (NC) Chapter meeting with Dave Thomas and Keith Robbins (1:30 p.m. EDT)
May 17: Bob Broeg St. Louis Chapter meeting with Dan Evans (6:30 p.m. CDT)
May 17: John McMurray: “Larry Doby and his Baseball Legacy” (7:30 p.m. EDT)
May 17: Juan Marichal (D.R.) Chapter meeting (8:00 p.m. EDT)
May 17: Larry Dierker (TX) Chapter meeting with Bill Virdon and David Jerome (7:00 p.m. CDT)
May 18: Gardner-Waterman Vermont Chapter meeting with Thomas Wolf (8:00 p.m. EDT)
May 18: Bay Area/Sacramento (CA) joint chapter meeting with Scott Bush (7:00 p.m. PDT)
May 19: Baltimore Babe Ruth Chapter meeting with Jack Graham (12:00 p.m. EDT)
May 20: Ken Keltner (WI) Chapter meeting with Michael Gonring (6:00 p.m. CDT)
May 20: Larry Doby (SC) Chapter meeting with Jeff Ridgway (7:00 p.m. EDT)
May 20: Magnolia (GA) Chapter meeting with Jerry Manheim (7:30 p.m. EDT)
May 22: Rogers Hornsby (TX) Chapter meeting with Tim Jackson (1:00 p.m. CDT)
May 22: Emil Rothe Chicago Chapter meeting with Gregory Wolf and Don Zminda (2:00 p.m. CDT)
May 22: Baseball Reminiscence meeting (1:00 p.m. PDT)

In addition, the following events will be held in person:

May 15: Babe ‘n’ Bob (MD) Chapter Breakfast (Edgewater, MD)
May 18: Bob Davids Chapter Maryland Hot Stove Dinner (Silver Spring, MD)

Find more upcoming SABR meetings on our Events Calendar page.

Vote now for the 2021 SABR Overlooked 19th Century Base Ball Legend

Each year, SABR’s Nineteenth Century Research Committee selects its Overlooked 19th Century Base Ball Legend — a 19th century player, manager, executive or other baseball personality not yet inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

All SABR members are eligible to cast a vote for the winner. The winner will be announced this summer during a Nineteenth Century Committee virtual meeting.

2021 finalists: Earlier this year, project leaders selected the 15 finalists for the 2021 Overlooked 19th Century Baseball Legend. Click here to download a PDF with the finalists’ bios, compiled by project co-chairs Adam Darowski and Joe Williams. Voting in the final election will run until May 24, and will be open to all SABR members.
Vote now! Click here to access the 2021 ballot. All SABR members are eligible to vote in the election for this year’s Overlooked 19th Century Legend. You *MUST* select five candidates — ranking them from first choice to fifth choice — from among the candidates presented. You are only allowed to vote once. ALL BALLOTS MUST BE CAST PRIOR TO 11:59 p.m. PDT on Monday, May 24, 2021.

This December, the Hall of Fame’s Early Baseball Committee will meet and vote on eligible candidates for induction whose greatest contributions to the game were realized prior to 1950. This committee is not scheduled to vote again for nine more years, until 2030.

Click here for a list of past winners or to learn more about the Overlooked Legend project.

Read articles from the Spring 2021 Baseball Research Journal online

Good news! The Spring 2021 edition of the Baseball Research Journal has been mailed out to all SABR members.

Those of you who receive the print edition should find your BRJ arriving in the next few weeks. For digital subscribers, the e-book edition — with a special illustrated cover design of Babe Ruth by SABR member Gary Cieradkowski — was delivered on April 13.

All articles from the new Baseball Research Journal are now available to be read online at SABR.org.

To learn more about contributing to a future SABR publication, click here. We hope you enjoy reading the Spring 2021 Baseball Research Journal!

SABRcast with Rob Neyer: Listen to an interview with author Will Leitch

Baseball fans, tune in this season to SABRcast with Rob Neyer, a weekly podcast hosted by award-winning author and longtime SABR member Rob Neyer.

Episode #110 on Monday, May 10 featured Will Leitch, author of How Lucky: A Novel and four other books. He writes This Here Newsletter on Substack and he is a contributing editor at New York magazine. He also writes weekly for Intelligencer and Vulture, along with regular columns for NBC News, the New York Times, Washington Post, Medium, and MLB.com. He is best known as the founder of the late sports website Deadspin..

Visit SABR.org/sabrcast to listen to the full episode.

Subscribe to SABRcast on your favorite podcast networks, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher, and listen to each episode as soon as it’s released on Mondays. To learn more, visit SABR.org/sabrcast.

8 new SABR biographies published

Eight new biographies were posted this week as part of the SABR Baseball Biography Project. Here are the new bios published this week:

Ernie Burch, by Terry Bohn
Joe Cunningham, by Eric Vickrey
Garry Hancock, by Karl Cicitto
Scott McGregor, by Malcolm Allen
Luis Mercedes, by Malcolm Allen
Jim Owens, by Russ Walsh
Lew Richie, by Kenny Ayres (first-time author)
George Ulrich, by Bill Lamb

All new biographies can be found here: SABR.org/bioproject

Find any SABR biography: You can visit sabr.org/bioproject to search for any player — or manager, executive, scout, spouse, broadcaster, or umpire — who appears in the SABR BioProject. In addition, we have pages for Ballparks, Broadcasters, Executives, Games, Managers, Scouts, Spouses, Umpires, Writers, people who were Famous Outside Baseball, and a lot more.

12 new stories published at the SABR Games Project

Twelve new game stories were posted this week as part of the SABR Games Project. Here are the new game stories:

June 7, 1889: Louisville’s Pete Browning hits for second career cycle, by Tim Hagerty
October 17, 1911: Home Run Baker, A’s get the best of Giants’ Christy Mathewson in Game 3, by Tom Nardacci
September 24, 1928: Braves wrap up their 15th doubleheader in 25 days with a win over Pirates, by Bill Nowlin
September 13, 1946: Ted Williams’s inside-the-park home run clinches AL pennant for Red Sox, by Bill Nowlin
September 5, 1954: Asheville old-timers Bud Shaney, Ray Hathaway work quickly in Tri-State shutout, by Jack Zerby
July 28, 1962: Granny Hamner rides knuckler back to the big leagues as A’s pitcher, by Kurt Blumenau
May 12, 1966: Braves’ Gary Geiger gets first hit in Busch Stadium as Cardinals open new ballpark, by Michael Tow (first-time author)
April 17, 1974: ‘Phantom’ Juan Veintidos throws real shutout for Orlando Twins, by Kurt Blumenau
September 23, 1976: Unbeknownst to all, Brewers’ Danny Frisella makes final appearance, by Andrew Harner
June 18, 1998: Dave Stieb makes improbable return to Blue Jays, five years after retiring, by Andrew Harner
July 1, 2004: Travis Blackley wins major-league debut for Seattle Mariners, by Madison McEntire
July 25, 2019: Long Island Ducks win in first Atlantic League game using computer to call balls and strikes, by Thomas J. Brown Jr.

New Games Project stories can be found at SABR.org/gamesproject.

Get involved: Have memories of a game you attended? Or a game you watched that caught your interest? Write about it! Writing for the Games Project is an easy way to get involved as a SABR member. Find out how by reading the Games Project FAQs section or checking out the Authors’ Guidelines. We have editors and fact checkers who are willing to help you write your first article.
Social media: Follow the SABR Games Project on Twitter or Facebook to keep up with new stories and updates.

Listen to a new episode of Behind the Numbers: Baseball SABR Style on SiriusXM on Saturdays

Behind the Numbers: Baseball SABR Style on SiriusXM, a radio show hosted by former SABR Board President Vince Gennaro, is back at a new time for the regular season. Listen to new episodes at 8:00-9:00 p.m. ET on Saturdays on MLB Network Radio.

You can also listen to archives of recent episodes on-demand on the SiriusXM Internet Radio app.

Behind the Numbers: Baseball SABR Style on SiriusXM focuses on examining and interpreting the statistical analysis that plays a critical role in baseball today. It airs weekly throughout the year on MLB Network Radio, available to subscribers nationwide on XM channel 89, Sirius channel 209, and on the SiriusXM Internet Radio App.

ICYMI: Highlights from last week’s This Week in SABR

Here are some major headlines from recent weeks that we don’t want you to miss:

All previous editions of This Week in SABR can be found here: SABR.org/this-week-in-sabr-archives.

Welcome, new members!

We’d like to welcome all of our new SABR members who have joined this week. You can find all Members-Only resources at members.sabr.org and the Membership Handbook can be downloaded here.

Please give these new members a warm welcome and help them make the most of their membership by giving them the opportunity to get involved in their local chapter or a research committee.

You can find contact information for any SABR member in the online Membership Directory.

Name	Hometown	Name	Hometown
Gary Bedingfield	Erskine, ENG	James Murphy	Millville, MA
Tony Calandrillo	Lodi, NJ	Gerald Price	Lancaster, CA
Ryan Ferguson	Houston, TX	Ryan Reiter	Ottawa, KS
Ed Greene	Tiverton, RI	Michael Ruscoe	Middlefield, CT
Frank Hart	Poolesville, MD	James Ryan	Campbell, CA
Robin Hoffpauir	Denver, CO	Gary Schubel	Cary, NC
Geofry Kristoff	London, ON	Tim Sitar	Fairfax, VA
Martin Levin	West.Bloomfield, MI	David Starbuck	Kansas City, MO
Russell Luna	Dallas, TX	Evan Walker	San Diego, CA
Nicholas Martino	Oaklyn, NJ	Taylor Walsh	Silver Spring, MD
Michael McNamara	Willow Grove, PA	Evan Wologodzew	New Milford, CT
Mateen Moktarani	Walnut Creek, CA

Research Committee news

Here are the new research committee updates this week:

Biographical Research: April 2021 newsletter
Deadball Era: May 2021 newsletter
Nineteenth Century: Vote now for the 2021 SABR Overlooked 19th Century Base Ball Legend

Find all SABR research committee newsletters at SABR.org/research/committees.

Regional Chapter news

There are no new regional chapter and chartered community updates this week.

Visit SABR.org/chapters for more information on SABR regional chapters.

Around the Web

Here are some recent articles published by and about SABR members:

Grant Brisbee: Willie Mays at 90: 24 facts, tidbits, stories and other ways to appreciate the greatest living ballplayer (The Athletic)
Tyler Kepner: 58 Strikeouts Without a Walk. Then Ball Four. (New York Times)
Jay Jaffe: Max Scherzer and the Coming Wave of 3,000-Strikeout Pitchers (FanGraphs)
Rob Arthur: Hitters Are Driving The Recent HBP Spike (Baseball Prospectus)
John Kekis: Crunching numbers: Bailie Brown is 1st woman to complete sport analytics degree at Syracuse (Associated Press)
John Shipley: In the interest of baseball history, they took a ride. And the Saints came up aces. (St. Paul Pioneer-Press)
Emma Baccellieri: Inside Minor League Baseball’s Long-Awaited Return (Sports Illustrated)
Jimmy Lynn: Iowa Cubs ownership, front office tackle pandemic-related challenges as fans return to Principal Park (Des Moines Register)
Dan Barry: The PawSox Moved, but Pawtucket Has Yet to Move On (New York Times)
Hannah Keyser: How surprising are the vaccinated Yankees’ COVID-19 cases? Experts explain the implications (Yahoo! Sports)
Jarrett Seidler: Going to Games, 2021 Style (Baseball Prospectus)
Stephanie Apstein: Pujols’s Greatest Impact Is on People With Down Syndrome (Sports Illustrated)
David Purdum: 3-year evolution of American sports betting: From taboo to revenue (ESPN.com)
Kelly Cohen/Dan Hajducky: Inside the mysterious world of missing sports memorabilia (ESPN.com)
Andrew Baggarly/Eno Sarris: MLB base stealers have never been more successful, and here’s why (The Athletic)
Russell A. Carleton: Can I Tell You a Secret? Infield Shifts and Right-Handed Batters (Baseball Prospectus)
Alex Speier: He’s undefeated, precise, and confident. It’s clear — letting Nick Pivetta be himself is paying off big for Red Sox (Boston Globe)
RJ McDaniel: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Is Here (FanGraphs)
Clinton Yates: Baseball and books: Nationals’ Josh Bell has two loves (The Undefeated)
Tom Ruane: Retro-review of the 1906 season (Retrosheet.org)
Tom Hoffarth: Oh, it very much is so: How the ’19 Black Sox were fixing to keep things going into in the ’20s with Don Zminda (Farther Off the Wall)
Michael Baumann: How MLB’s Biggest Offseason Moves Are Looking So Far in 2021 (The Ringer)
Sarah Langs: Pair of Seattle callups carving place in history (MLB.com)
Zack Meisel: ‘Everybody wants that magic answer’: Cleveland’s bid to solve the hitting development riddle (The Athletic)
Michael Clair: Casey Candaele-Helen Callaghan greatest mother-son baseball duo (MLB.com)
Howard Megdal: ‘We’re Finally Here’: The Movement to Make Women’s Baseball a College Sport (Baseball Prospectus)
David Waldstein: Baseball in Britain Confronts Issues With Sexism (New York Times)
Micheline Maynard: Why I can’t wrap my head around baseball’s embrace of sports betting (Washington Post)
David Laurila: Mariners Prospect Adam Macko Has a Quality Curveball (and an Even Better Backstory) (FanGraphs)
Matt Monagan: The story behind Rex Hudler’s cow-milking card (MLB.com)
Del Crandall, star catcher on champion Milwaukee Braves and Brewers manager, dies at 91 (Wisconsin State Journal)
Charlie Bevis: Baseball Books, 1970s and 1980s (WordPress.com)
Nick Vossbrink: 2021 Heritage Geek Out (SABR Baseball Cards Blog)
Randy S. Robbins: Hollywood Stars Were in the Cards: Part 4 (SABR Baseball Cards Blog)
Jeff Katz: The Clown Princes of Baseball Cards (SABR Baseball Cards Blog)

Please note: Some articles may require a separate subscription to view online. SABR does not endorse, and is not responsible or liable for, any content that appears on a third-party website.

This Week in SABR is compiled by Jacob Pomrenke. If you would like us to include an upcoming event, article or any other information in “This Week in SABR,” e-mail jpomrenke@sabr.org.

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